Another Reason I Don't Go to Church

Ah, the stupidity that is perpetrated in the name of religion. Serves her right!

I still can not believe people actually DO THAT..

ug

[quote="Phoenix32890"]Serves her right! [/quote]

A hard judgement without knowing the details!

These churches believe that handling, stepping on, and walking through a bunch of snakes is a show of their faith.
If they don't believe in god enough, they will get bitten.

Snakes get scared of people, feel pain, and will bite to protect themselves.
It has nothing to do with god. But they think so.

Many MANY people have gotten sick, and I am sure she isn't the first person to die from a snake bite due to some weirdo preacher screaming at them to test their faith or be "bad people" by walking through a pile of snakes.

It is a silly, and in my opinion STUPID practice.

People should not test their faith with a poisonous animal.

You either have faith or you don't. Period. Wether or not an animal bites you out of self defence is not a show of how christian you are.

but... that is just my opinion.

Don't you know? The snake wasn't a snake! It was the devil!

There may be no excuse for stupidity. However, nobody deserves to die for it.

I am surprised at your response.

Ironically, another example of natural selection at work.

This was a tragic and unnecessary death. The woman died four hours after the bite.

The snake was thought to be a timber rattlesnake. The one pictured is either very fat or gravid. It's a beautiful specimen nevertheless.

It takes a snake know one. It shows that church is full of snakes.

Here's a pretty good depiction of the general mentality.



It would be so damned pathetic if it weren't so damned funny.

It was a rattlesnake? Oh, God.

Where in the Bible is it written that you have to walk through rattlesnakes? How about a few garden snakes, or if you insist, black snakes. I don't see anything Biblical about rattlesnakes, (probably because they are a New World creature).

I don't think Mark 16:17-18 was very specific as to snake families, but was rather general in its assertion that, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."

Also, I think it would be rather difficult to get a Palestine Viper or some such serpent out in the hills of Kentucky.

Cripes! I coulda done without seeing that pic on the previous page.

My step mom got caught up in one of those holy roller type churches 15 years ago. Dad went to the church, beat up the preacher and dragged her out of there in the middle of a service.

I'm thinking that preacher would have preferred to have been snake bit.

I agree. I just think that you can get bit by either a poisonous snake or a nonpoisonous snake, and if you are going to have your parishoners walk through snakes, it would be equally Biblical to make them the nonpoisonous variety as the poisonous ones.

In fact, most snakes are nonpoisonous. Of course, it still hurts when they bite you, so the faithful still have the chance to show that they were bit by a snake but it didn't hurt.

While I certainly don't agree with these people handling snakes to prove their faith, there are worse things done in the name of religion. These snake handlers are endangering only themselves, nobody is forced to believe as they do, or die if they don't.
Nobody deserves to die for believing in something.

I hear the pastor is now letting folks handle his trouser snake instead.

The Bible says "take up the serpent", I'm not sure He meant for people to handle snakes in His name, however, rattlers are serpents.

Re: Another Reason I Don't Go to Church


I guess she wasn't a "true believer".